#Chanceverse Appreciation Month

[pritkinsprettydick]

Artemis + Aesthetic

[freespeechfandom-blog]

Favourite Cassie moment

My absolute favourite in the series has to be the revelation at the end of Hunt the Moon. It suddenly made everything fall into place and make sense, and rounded off a topic both highly relevant to the plot and very important to Cassie.

“My power wasn’t some alien thing, I thought, watching the sky in wonder. It wasn’t borrowed from another or stolen from a better candidate. There was no better candidate; there never would be. It had flowed away from Myra as soon as it saw me, like the tide when the moon comes out. Because it was mine—it was mine; it knew it was mine.” - Karen Chance, Hunt the Moon.

The revelation had such a cathartic, enlightening effect (literally enlightening too, note KC’s pathetic fallacy in relation to the Moon in the scene), and as Cassie’s thoughts summarize, she has finally understood her place in the world, accepted her role as her own, and found herself. Such an amazingly pivotal moment, coming so surprisingly late in the series (book 5!), it really raises huge questions as to what other major bombshells the series has in store.

[halfincubus]

‘Because the French windows behind Rhea abruptly slammed open, and a gust of rain and wind swirled in, powerful enough to rip one of the curtains down. A lamp teetered on a table, one of the last standing, and then fell, shattering into a thousand pieces against the floor. And a great flash of lightning flew through the open doors and hit the raised wand, splitting into a triple strand that targeted all three acolytes at once.’

[pritkinsprettydick]

Cassie + Tempt the Stars Aesthetic

[freespeechfandom-blog]

Karen Chance and meaningful names

Can we talk about how amazing the names of the Chanceverse characters are? Most of the names show the admirable thought and care that KC put into them. The relevance of 'Cassandra' has been explicitly spelled out in the books; it's prophetic in a nomen est omen way, it's also an inspirational call to hope, as well as a reminder of a wish that a mother once made for her child. But Palmer is also quite interesting, and potentially entertaining! (My favourite has to be  'a worme called a Palmer, whiche is heary, and hath many feete' - the mental images are pure gold.)

So, as a bit of etymological trivia, 'palmer' may refer to:  1) a pilgrim from the Holy Land carrying a palm branch 2) a destructive hairy worm (lol!) 3) bait 4) a punishment tool (ouch) 5) a cheater who conceals cards [from The Oxford English Dictionary].

While at first I thought 'Palmer' was just a generic name for a fortune-telling UF heroine, the revelations in the later books of the series allow a deeper interpretation.  Since we learned about Cassie's father, who she's inherited her name from, Palmer 5 seems to fit really well... he's been fooling the magical community while keeping his cards close to his chest.

Palmer 1 however, lends itself to a more poetic reading. In Christian symbolism, palm branches represent the victory of good over evil, and often signal martyrdom (uh-oh). Thankfully, in opposition to the latter bleak prognosis, Egyptians used palm as symbols for eternal life, while in Islam it is related to Paradise. They also often signify peace, and in addition to being the symbol of the goddess Victoria, were also the sacred plant of Apollo - a classical parallel not lost on any of us [from Wikipedia].

While all of the above may or may very well not be relevant to the story in the end, I think they are great examples of a well-crafted story down to the tiny details - and an impressive authorial achievement in onomastics. Hats off to KC indeed.

[pritkinsprettydick]

Cassie Headcanons

- After Cassie saves Pritkin and he’s back in the fold, he’ll be able to feed/have sexy times again with no stipulations.

- Cassie realizes with a surprising pang of jealousy that she doesn’t want him to feed from others, but she’s still confused about her feelings for him (and Mircea). They begin an awkward, teasing flirtation (Pritkin of course is way beyond his denial and is therefore far less subtle).

- It inevitably leads to the term “emergency” having a much broader definition. Cassie gets a papercut? SHE MUST BE HEALED. Pritkin stubs his toe? WHAT IF HE BRUISES?!

- Eventually they realize they’re being dumb and transparent as hell, so they drop the act and just DATE already. They continue with the fake “emergency” sexy times because it’s fun. 

-Their children are super annoyed because “Seriously, why do Mom and Dad have to make out every time one of them sneezes?”

-Whenever Cassie wants to win an argument she just bumps her elbow and cocks an eyebrow. He rolls his eyes but heals her anyway, and the fight is forgotten. Cassie wins every argument.

[pritkinsprettydick]

Cassie Palmer + Favorite Quote

[pritkinsprettydick]

What have you done?“ I screamed to no one, because he wasn’t there. I dropped to my knees, screaming in fury, and the earth shook. A time wave boiled under the soil, causing roots to fly out of the ground, pushing up boulders, sending a cascade of mud and debris spilling down the hill and forcing several vamps to jump wildly out of the way. So much power, I thought dully. And it did me no good, it did me no good, it did me no good. “Now zat,” someone said approvingly, “is a Pythia.

Hunt the Moon

As painful as this moment is, it is so fucking brilliant. Because we all know how Cassie doubts herself and her abilities all the time, but when it comes down to people she cares about, when it comes down to raw emotional responses, she’s a goddamn marvel.

[pritkinsprettydick]

One of my favorite moments in the entire series comes toward the end of Tempt the Stars, when Cassie is rescuing the girls from the Pythian Court. It’s not just the self-sacrifice, the willingness to lay her life down for these young girls. It’s Rhea validating Cassie’s choice. It’s Cassie’s moment of fierce pride in her calling. Her undeniable feeling of rightness when she knows what she must do. Her bravery, and her ability to find the beauty in (what would be) her final moments. Her thoughts drifting to someone she loves and letting that carry her away, instead of dwelling in fear or regret. It gets me every time.

[pritkinsprettydick]

Casskin + Aesthetic

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reblog if you have felt personally victimized by Pritkin choosing Ring of Fire on the jukebox in HtM because it is a song about falling in love with someone you shouldn’t and it was basically his extremely subtle way of screaming “SHIT GODDAMMIT I’M IN LOVE WITH YOU” to an oblivious Cassie

[pritkinsprettydick]

Pritkin + Hunt the Moon Aesthetic

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Favorite Pritkin Traits

Pritkin starts the series off as kind of a tool. He’s incredibly rude, he doubts Cassie’s honor and capabilities and even her humanity. But the amazing thing is, when he is faced with a reality he didn’t expect, he doesn’t stick to his convictions like you might expect from someone as single-minded as him. He adapts. He goes from loyal Circle assassin to Cassie’s biggest defender in, what? A month? Less? He hitches his wagon to her and doesn’t look back. He turns his back on his perceived honor, on the organization that he’s been a devoted member of for a century or so, on everyone in favor of doing what he knows is right. His integrity—there’s a trait I find incredibly admirable, especially in one in his position—is pretty much without reproach. But it goes beyond that, I think. His loyalty to Cassie, his complete and utter support of her, and above all, his faith in her are my favorite things about him. Cassie has been going through so much, and she’s being pulled in every direction through political machinations she has little control over. Having someone like Pritkin as a partner is so important because he doesn’t want anything from her beyond her survival. He believes in her in a way that few do. She might not need his physical strength and his magic anymore now that she has the Circle’s support, but there is no one else that provides the emotional support he does and that's something she needs desperately. For someone as generally cynical as he is, with his background, he shows an astounding amount of faith in this girl he’s barely known for a month or two. And it’s beautiful to behold.

“Nothing is going to happen,” he repeated. “But even if it did, you don’t need me. You don’t need—“

“That isn’t true!”

“Yes, it is.” He looked at me and his lips quirked. “You can’t fire a gun worth a damn. You hit like a girl. Your knowledge of magic is rudimentary at best. And you act like I’m torturing you if I make you run more than a mile.”

I blinked at him.

“But I’ve known war mages who aren’t as resilient, who aren’t as brave, who aren’t—“ he looked away for a moment. And then he looked back at me, green eyes burning. “You’re the strongest person I know. And you will be fine.” -Pritkin and Cassie, Hunt the Moon

[pritkinsprettydick]

Pritkin Headcanons/Predictions

- I have a theory (a very trashy theory, thank you very much) that the reason Pritkin was so cheerful and teasing the morning after waking up at Jonas’ (his) house was because he got to shower in Cassie’s body. Running around in a body that was less physically powerful obviously made him pretty grumpy, but after that shower he seemed to be “dealing” quite well, don’t you think? Now, to be clear, I think Pritkin’s strict code of honor would not permit him to be inappropriate with the touching or ogling while in Cassie’s body, but I’m reasonably sure that he would’ve been very thorough with the cleaning. You know. Because hygiene. 

- OK, so we know that Pritkin bought Cassie shirts (like the Powerpuff Girls one, hold me). I always imagine him walking past the women’s t-shirt section at Wal-Mart, on his way to the register with his generic package of socks, when some ostentatious shirt catches his eye and immediately reminds him of Cassie. She would wear something dumb like that, he thinks to himself grumpily, and before he knows it he’s got a handful of girly t-shirts with Cassie-isms printed on them in the check-out aisle. He doesn’t even know how it happened because she somehow got under his skin so seamlessly he wasn’t even aware of it. He grumbles vaguely about her needing something more combat-appropriate than those damned Augustine dresses when he hands them over. He rolls his eyes and shrugs her off when she thanks him, but is privately delighted every time she wears one.

- When he comes back after Cassie saves him, he is the inexplicable favorite of all the Pythian Court girls. He is initially irritated by this (and completely baffled) but then Cassie comes back from a time jaunt to find him covered in glittery nail polish and poorly-applied makeup, looking bemused and exasperated and terribly fond. He hides this immediately and returns to being grumpy and rude. Cassie later discovers him leading a lesson in self-defense, because they need it, damn it, but mostly the girls are just running circles around him, smacking him in the shins with their wooden swords while he sighs and tries to demand order. These scenes make Cassie’s chest hurt and her tummy do flips, but she’s sure she doesn’t know why.

[pritkinsprettydick]

Casskin Shower Hug

Ok so obviously this was just a quick thing that I didn’t do much with (and I probably won’t ever do anything more) but I wanted to post something to honor this very important scene. I get too emotional over these two to word about it effectively, so y'all get an unambitious ink drawing instead. *shrug*

[pritkinsprettydick]

John Pritkin + Favorite Quote